Enantioselective synthesis may be considered an important part of modern synthetic chemistry, and can be used in the production of certain chemicals, such as food additives, fragrances, natural products, and pharmaceuticals.
A frequently-used compound for enantioselective reactions is 1,1′-bi-2-naphthol (“BINOL”). The most common methods to synthesize BINOL and its derivatives, however, result in the formation of a racemic mixture of (R) and (S) isomers. Due to the fact that only a single isomer of BINOL is required for most, if not all, enantioselective reactions, the racemic mixture typically is purified through chromatography or recrystallization to achieve the desired isomer, while the other isomer typically is discarded.
There remains a need for methods of altering the enantiomeric excess of compounds, such as BINOL, BINOL derivatives, and other atropisomers, including racemic mixtures thereof.